Tuesday, June 18, 2013

House of Happiness: IHOP Arrives in the Philippines

The first IHOP restaurant in the Philippines at the Bonifacio High Street

After a
couple of months since it opened, American restaurant IHOP (International House
of Pancakes) still has queues, especially on weekends, attesting to its
popularity and the quality of its food.

It took 10 years, the
last three spent in negotiating for the franchise, before IHOP, which is famous
all over the world for its pancakes, omelets and breakfast items, was brought
to the Philippines by Global Restaurant Concepts, Inc. (GRCI) through its
subsidiary InterDine Corp., said Archie Rodriguez, its president and chief
executive officer.

“IHOP has been
interested in bringing the brand to this region for a number of years; Asia-Pacific
and the Philippines in particular represent an enormous opportunity for the
growth of the IHOP brand over the next 10 to 20 years,” Rodriguez revealed.

“Extending the unique
IHOP experience into the Asia-Pacific region has long been part of our vision,”
confirmed Julia Stewart, chairman and chief executive officer of DineEquity,
Inc. “But the key to achieving that goal was finding the right franchisee who
had the necessary experience in the area and who shared the same commitment to
excellence and putting our guests first that IHOP’s reputation has been built
on. With InterDine Corp. and their parent company Global Restaurant Concepts,
Inc., we have found the perfect fit to bring our restaurants to this new region
and extend our global brand.”

IHOP is a
welcome addition to GRCI’s restaurant franchises, which include California
Pizza Kitchen, P.F. Chang’s and Mad for Garlic, bringing in “more mainstream,
comfort food.” What is more comforting than breakfast foods. Breakfast is like
a drop of sunshine, sweeping away the cobwebs of sleep and lethargy. Its
smells—eggs and bacon frying, bread being toasted, refreshing orange juice,
garlicky fried rice, fluffy pancakes—conjure happy memories. Breakfast fares
are so popular that many people want them anytime of the day. Unfortunately,
there is a dearth of restaurants offering American-style breakfast all day.
Thus, the opening of the first Philippine IHOP branch was warmly welcomed,
aside from the fact that the global restaurant chain has built a solid reputation
for good food.

IHOP,
founded by Al and Jerry Lapin, along with early investors Al and Trudy Kallis,
first opened in 1958in the
Los Angeles suburb of Toluca Lake, California, United States. After two years,
the company started to expand through franchising. By 1992, there were 500
stores all throughout the United States. Average sales at that time per
restaurant were more than $1 million. The following years saw IHOP restaurants
popping all over the world until it reached the Philippine shores.

Big Steak Omelette

With 360
square meter of floor space and two floors, the first Philippine restaurant, which
can accommodate about 160 to 180 diners, was unveiled at W Global Center at the
posh Bonifacio High Street in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig City, wedged
between California Pizza Kitchen and Mad for Garlic, a Korean-based Italian
bistro.

BGC has
become a fast-rising lifestyle, retail and dining hub in Metro Manila in recent
years. Because of its green design with open spaces and parks, it has also
become a favorite place for runners. It is estimated that more than 5,000
runners a day pass by the W Global Center building, at the corner of 30th
Street and 9th Avenue, as part of a morning and late afternoon jogging path,
making it a prime location for IHOP.

“We are confident our
guests will find that what IHOP offers—its unique world famous menu filled with
items they crave, a sit-down all-day dining experience in a friendly, warm
environment with food freshly prepared for every single guest will soon make
IHOP their restaurant of choice over the competition,” Rodriguez averred. “And
many Filipinos have visited IHOPs in the course of their travels overseas and
have developed a love for the brand. In fact, a common post on the U.S.
Facebook page is from Filipino guests who have been to an IHOP in America and
are wondering when one will open in their own country.”

John Merkin, IHOP’s vice
president of operations and international, added, “Finding a partner with the
operational capability to be able to implement and maintain the high standards
that we and our guests demand was paramount in choosing the franchisee who
would enable us to bring the brand to the Asia-Pacific marketplace. InterDine
Corp. and Global Restaurant Concepts Inc. bring the necessary resources and experience
as well as a proven record of success in establishing and running respected
American restaurant brands in this region. With them as our franchisee, there
are more than 100 million people in the Philippines who are about to discover
why IHOP is famous the world over for great food and great service.”

Cinn-a-stack Pancakes

Confidence
in the brand and the partnership bolstered GRCI to open up more branches here
as well as in other Asian countries. Manuel Zubiri, vice president of GRCI,
said they are set to open four to five more branches this year, with a branch
in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, next to open. A total of 20 restaurants are to
open in five years, leading the way for IHOP to open in Malaysia, Taiwan,
Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam, and creating over 1,000 jobs in the region.

“IHOP sees
the Philippines as a potential gateway to the rest of Asia. The Philippines in
particular has a record of successfully embracing American restaurants and
other products. The Philippines presents an opportunity to reach millions of potential
guests, and IHOP is bringing a unique dining experience to the region that
isn’t available at any of our competitors,” Rodriguez affirmed.

Rodriquez
predicted that “buttermilk pancakes, along with the other variations and our
omelettes” will sell like, well, hotcakes in the Philippines.

Eggs, bacon and hash Brown, part of Stuffed French Toast Combo

“Pancakes are a comfort
food and delicious any time of day. People choose to eat them all through the
day into the late evening. By offering them as an option all through the day,
people have gotten into the habit of coming to IHOP to have ‘breakfast for
dinner’ as some people call it,” he said.

“The average IHOP
restaurant serves more than 325,000 pancakes per year. This means the IHOP
system serves in excess of 500 million pancakes annually, lathered with 250 million
scoops of butter, and drizzled with two million gallons of syrup,” he further
said.

In the Philippine IHOP
restaurant, 70 percent of the ingredients are imported and the rest is locally
sourced to preserve the integrity of taste of the original IHOP, Zubiri said.
He added though that as times goes by locally sourced ingredients will increase
as they find suppliers that suit their needs and standards. Not only that, in
time, there is a possibly of innovations and customizations unique to the
Philippine store.

“In certain locations,
IHOP adjusts the menu to fit local customs and tastes. For example, in Middle
East IHOPs, pork products are not served. In this region, IHOP will be offering
seasonal fruits and milkshakes and a different coffee than we feature in other
locations, all tailored to the tastes of our guests in this region,” Rodriguez
revealed.

Funny Face

As of now, people are
more than satisfied that the IHOP goodness that millions of Americans love is
now accessible. Topping the favorites is, of course, their fluffy and heavenly
pancakes, using buttermilk. One can choose the classic and plain original
buttermilk pancakes (P195) or those with flavors and toppings.

A bestseller is the New
York Cheesecake Pancakes (P285), prepared with creamy, rich cheesecake pieces
and topped with strawberries, powdered sugar and whipped cream. The Double
Blueberry Pancakes (P275) has blueberries and is topped with warm blueberry
compote and whipped cream. Chocolate lovers can drool over the Chocolate
Chocolate Chip Pancakes (P255), which are chocolate batter pancakes filled with
chocolate chips and topped with powdered sugar and whipped cream. Cinnamon roll
addicts can have their fix too with the Cinn-a-stack Pancakes (P235), which is
layered with cinnamon roll filling and then topped with cream cheese icing and
whipped cream. Have fruits and pancakes in one with Strawberry Banana Pancakes
(P265), which has fresh banana slices and is topped with strawberries, more
banana slices and whipped cream. The health-conscious can opt for Harvest Grain
‘N Nut Pancakes (195) with grains, oats, almonds and English walnuts, or the
whole wheat pancakes with blueberries (P225).

Garden Stuffed Crepes

Another
perennial favorite is the omelette and IHOP offers it mixed with its famous
buttermilk and wheat pancake butter to make fluffier omelette, and with many
varieties: Big Steak Omelette (P325) with strips of steak, hash browns, green
pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes, cheddar cheese; Bacon Temptation Omelette (P285)
with bacon strips, diced tomatoes and cheese sauce; Country Omelette (P265)
with ham, hash browns, onion and cheese and sour cream topping; and Chicken
Fajiota Omelette (P265) with grilled fajita seasoned chicken breast strips,
green pepper, onion, cheese blend, salsa and sour cream topping. They also have
vegetarian omelette and healthy omelette varieties. Also, diners can create
your own omelette from a list of ingredients.

New York Cheesecake Pancakes

Rodriguez
revealed that these two well-love items are in IHOP’s menu since the beginning.

“If you look back at
the menu from 1955, the year the first IHOP opened in Toluca Lake, California,
there are a number of items that you can still find on the menu. Buttermilk
pancakes, of course, waffles and omelets have been featured throughout the last
55 years, as have the waffles, chocolate chip pancakes and several other favorites.
IHOP is always innovating their menu, adding new items that become favorites
like stuffed French toast, and introducing signature pancakes that appear for a
limited time.These have included
everything from carrot cake pancakes to pineapple upside down pancakes,” he
said.

Simple and Fit Omelette

The menu
is packed with mouthwatering items such as French toasts, waffles, oatmeal,
hash browns, sandwiches, sweet and savory crepes, hamburgers, breakfast
combinations (French toast, hash brown, eggs, bacon and sausages, for example),
steak combinations (T-bone steak, eggs and pancakes, for example) and items for
kids. Many of these items have the Simple and Fit options, which use
low-calorie and low-carbohydrate ingredients. Customers can ask for egg
substitute or low-calorie eggs, sugar substitutes, sugar-free syrup, turkey
bacons, etc. Also, be sure to watch out for new items. Need I remind that these
are available all day?

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About Me

ROEL HOANG MANIPON
How do I begin? There's not much but then there's so much. But it must begin somewhere, so here it goes: I will begin with something "mundane" (but really not mundane; they're all cosmic to me. These are what I do, and thus a big part of what I am: a journalist, poet, fictionist, essayist, cultural researcher, travel writer, publication designer, sometime painter, amateur photographer, translator, strip dancer, masseur, model and a natural cook. Whoa! That sounds a lot. But really, not doing all at the same time, may two or three at the same time, but all them in me. And there are other things that I want to do or be, like being an astronaut, archaeologist, filmmaker, etc. I think one lifetime is not enough for me. Often I don't refer to them as simply jobs but passions. Oh, yeah, I'm forever a student too. Forever a boy.